HEIST — Pricing & Virality

Free Tier (default, no account required)

Solve today's puzzle (one per day, resets midnight ET)
1 co-op chat room, max 3 friends
Emoji share card on solve
Streak counter (shame loop)
Global leaderboard position (read-only)

Pro — $9/month

Full puzzle archive (solve any past HEIST)
Chat rooms up to 5 friends
Daily vault reveal is longer + read aloud via TTS (ElevenLabs)
Ghost mode: friend's solve path overlaid as a ghost run
Early access to next-day puzzle at 11pm (night-owl window)

Crew — $19/month

Everything in Pro
Create and send custom puzzle chains to a group (up to 20 players)
Organize weekly tournaments with leaderboard + trophy share cards
"Crew Streak" — shared streak visible to all members
Priority invite to beta puzzle drops and seasonal events

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3 Viral Mechanics Baked Into the Core Loop

1. The Emoji Grid Share Card

Not a share button — a consequence of solving. Generated automatically.

Format: 🔴🟢🟢🔵🟡 · 8:14 · Top 4% · May 12 · HEIST

Every grid is unique (stage outcomes encoded as colored circles). Status signal is immediate. Curiosity is instant ("what does 🔵 mean?"). Creates pull → people who see it want to solve.

2. Solve-Time Ghost Link

If a friend solves faster, their solve link turns into a "ghost opponent" URL. When you open it, their anonymized solve path plays alongside yours in the background — which stages they cleared first, how long they spent. You can see you're losing. You play faster.

3. The 5pm Drop as a Global Event

The puzzle doesn't exist before 5pm. The counter on the landing page ticks down publicly. There is no "do it later" — it's live or broken streak. Players set notifications. Players message their co-op group at 4:58. "Room's open." The drop itself is the viral moment, not any single feature.